Chuck
Hagel's Big Problem: Being A Realist About
American Power And Iran

The former Nebraska senator faces fierce
opposition to possible nomination as defense
secretary from Washington's militarists

By Stephen Kinzer

January 01, 2013 "The
Guardian"
-- What do
Nebraska and
Iran have in common? Not much – but enough
to cause big trouble for former Nebraska Senator
Chuck Hagel, whose possible nomination to be
secretary of defense is being challenged by the
powerful bomb-Iran-yesterday lobby.

Iran, in
its former incarnation as Persia, created the
world's first empire, produced titanic figures
like Cyrus, Darius, and Xerxes, and is one of
the great fonts of world culture. Nebraska was
home to indigenous peoples for centuries. It
became a state in 1867, and has produced an
important literary figure, Willa Cather, as well
as an investor said to be the world's second
richest man, Warren Buffett.

Nebraska
also, however, produced fighters long before
Chuck Hagel emerged. Crazy Horse, "Wild Bill"
Cody, and General John Pershing were born there.

A group
called Nebraskans for Peace has spent years
waging a campaign against the US Strategic
Command, which controls America's strategic
arsenal from a base in Omaha. The
current
headline on its website is, "Don't Bomb
Iran."

"A
military strike against Iran, a military
option, is not a viable, feasible,
responsible option."

Hagel is
absolutely correct. Like many thoughtful
Americans, including some of our country's most
seasoned diplomats, he is eager to make a real
effort to engage Iran. No American president has
done that since Jimmy Carter's presidency was
immolated in the wake of the hostage crisis –
except for Ronald Reagan, who tried sending
Iranian leaders a cake and a Bible, to no avail.

Part of
what has led Hagel to recommend a calm,
reasoned, prudent approach to Iran is his own
worldview. He is among the few in Washington who
do not seem to have accepted the century-old
principle that in order to defend its interests,
the
United States must be involved everywhere in
the world, all the time.

Hagel
is said to be "outside the mainstream" because
he does not believe American power can solve
people's problems around the world. That is,
indeed, outside the mainstream. Everyone from
Pentagon deadenders to Human Rights Watch, for
example, is trying to dissuade President Obama
from his commitment to remove all American
troops from Afghanistan by 2014. Hagel thinks
it's a fine idea.

Another
charge against Hagel is that he has
described the defense budget as "bloated".
That this can be considered controversial is a
measure of how far from reality Washington has
slipped. It is like describing Washington's
summer climate as "warm" or Congress as
"divided".

Hagel's
biggest problem, though, is Iran.

He wants
to see whether a deal between the United States
and Iran is possible. Such a deal is the
nightmare scenario for Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu and those around him. They
foolishly believe it would endanger Israeli
security. In fact, it would do the opposite:
reduce the threat from Iran by bringing it into
the Middle East security system, rather than
pushing it ever further into isolation and
anger.

Challenging orthodoxy is a death sentence in
Washington. It may result in the demise of
Senator Hagel's prospects. But his willingness
to challenge dogma about Iran has deep roots in
Nebraska.

Only one
American has given his life for Iranian
democracy. He was a young idealist from Nebraska
named Howard Baskerville. In 1907, fresh out of
Princeton, Baskerville went to Iran as a
schoolteacher. He found himself in the midst of
a revolution against tyranny, and was carried
away with passion for the democratic cause.

Rejecting
protests from the local American consul, he
shaped a group of his students into a military
column.
On 20 April 1909, he was killed while
leading them into battle.

Baskerville believed countries should be allowed
to choose their own paths, whether or not big
powers agreed. So did another notable Nebraskan,
Senator George Norris, who voted against both
United States entry into first world war and
American membership in the League of Nations.

Norris
told Americans that the push toward global
engagement was the project of "munition
manufacturers, stockbrokers, and bond dealers";
and he warned that it "brings no prosperity to
the great mass of common and patriotic
citizens".

Hagel is
in the great American tradition of the prairie
populist. He has sought to speak a word or two
of truth to power. Power is not amused. That is
why his nomination is in trouble before it has
even been announced.

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